Conventionally, there has been known an on-vehicle navigation device that, when a user drives an automobile or the like on a road, provides guidance by recognizing a current position along the way to a destination point and displaying the current position together with a road map on a display screen so that the user can reach the destination point without getting lost. Furthermore, a pedestrian navigation system utilizing a portable terminal device such as a mobile telephone also has been provided. This navigation system is a communication-type navigation system composed of a portable terminal device and a route search server.
In a field of on-vehicle navigation devices, there has been provided a navigation device in which a display portion is provided with a touch panel for allowing various operations to be performed so that the navigation device can be operated without interfering with a driving operation. In such a navigation device, processing of selecting or switching a function is performed through a selection of a desired menu item on a menu screen displayed on the display portion, and a desired location is designated on a map image displayed on the display portion, thus allowing a destination point or an intermediate point to be set.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicular route guidance device in which a desired location is designated with a touch on a map image displayed on a display portion and thus a destination point or an intermediate point is set. This vehicular route guidance device has a configuration in which an operation key “REGISTER” and an operation key “DESTINATION PONT” are displayed on a map display screen for displaying a map searched for by place names, and when the “REGISTER” key is touched, a location can be registered on a map being displayed at the time the “REGISTER” key is touched, while when the “DESTINATION POINT” key is touched, a destination point can be set on a map being displayed at the time the “DESTINATION POINT” key is touched.
Similarly, Patent Document 2 discloses a navigation device having a touch panel. This navigation device employs an information display system having the touch panel for allowing a predetermined item from among a plurality of displayed menu items to be selected by touching, and the information display system includes a select unit that selects the selected item based on coordinates of the plurality of menu items displayed on a display screen and coordinates of a touched position, and a control unit that displays the selected item selected by the select unit at the center of the display screen.
Moreover, Patent Document 3 discloses a navigation device in which the creation of marks can be performed by an intuitive operation. This navigation device displays together with a map on a display portion, control buttons associated with specific types of processing, respectively, such as a mark setting button, a destination point setting button, an intermediate point setting button, and an erase button. When a specific mark setting button and arbitrary coordinates on a map are designated through a drag operation on a touch panel, a mark creation processing unit creates a mark object and displays it at a position on the map, which corresponds to the designated coordinates, thereby allowing a desired location to be set.